Park View third baseman Seth Godfrey tags out Peabody's Nick Bona after Bona was caught in a double play. Luke Ramirez (below) reacts after getting hit by a pitch in the fifth inning.
/ John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. 
The cold numbers indicated blowout.

Fourteen runs. Fifteen hits. Four doubles. Three home runs. And another shutout by the pitching staff. And yet after Chula Vista Park View swatted aside Peabody, Mass., 14-0 in the Little League World Series last night, advancing to the United States semifinals, the team breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Relieved because slugger/pitcher Luke Ramirez still had his senses after taking a fastball to the helmet. And relieved because it escaped a nail-biter.

“That one,” said Park View manager Oscar Castro, “was uncomfortable.”

It was a 1-0 game in the fifth inning, a 3-0 game with two outs in the top of the sixth. Then the merry-go-round on the base paths commenced.

Beating up on two relievers, Park View sent 17 batters to the plate in the sixth, scoring 12 runs on 11 hits. Eleven of the runs scored with two outs.

Shortstop Andy Rios smacked two home runs and knocked in four runs in the inning. First baseman Oscar Castro Jr. and catcher Daniel Porras Jr. rapped two hits in the sixth.

“I think we all said, ‘Oh, now we finally woke up,’ ” Ramirez said. “Everyone kept hitting, hitting and hitting. I guess we were a little happy.”

Hard to imagine, but the 14-0 game was a pitcher's duel, matching the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Ramirez against the long, lean 127-pound Mat Hosman. Ramirez struck out 11 batters in four innings. Hosman fanned 10 in 4⅔ innings.

Pitching from 46 feet, Ramirez and Hosman hit in the low 70s on the radar gun, equivalent to 95 mph from the major leagues' 60 feet.

The key to the game?

Little League's 85-pitch count. To protect pitchers' arms, they must depart after 85 pitches. (They're allowed to finish facing a batter if in the middle of the count on the 85th pitch.)

Ramirez wishes Hosman exited precisely on the 85th pitch. On a 3-2 count and Hosman's 88th offering, he struck Ramirez square on the helmet.

Ramirez stayed on the ground for about a minute. When he rose to his feet, a member of Little League's medical staff evaluated him. First Ramirez alternated touching his nose with each hand. Then he alternated standing on one foot.

Then he left the game for a pinch-runner. He didn't pitch again, but made two more plate appearances, getting hit again and walking.

“I'm all right,” he said. “I mean, my head is still hurting. I have a little bit of a headache. It's nothing. I'll be all right.”

Peabody's No. 2 pitcher couldn't take the mound because he exceeded 20 pitches in the team's Friday loss. In came the relievers and out the line drives started sailing.